ACTOR KODIYETTAM GOPI PASSED AWAY

Kodiyettam Gopi (V. Gopinathan Nair -71) ,well known Malayalam Stage and Film Actor died at a private hospital here today, where he was undergoing treatment for cardiac arrest. He won the National Film Award for Best Actor in 1977 for ''Kodiyettam "directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan . Born in 1937 at Chirayinkil near Thiruvananthapuram, his first film was 'Swayamvaram' of Adoor Gopalakrishnian in 1972. He is popularly known as Bharat Gopi and Kodiyettam Gopi.He had also acted in two Hindi movies, ''Aghat'' and ''Satah Se Udta Admi.'' His ''Yamanam'' was awarded Best Film on Social Issues by the National Award Jury in 1991. He was awarded the Padmasri in the same year. Gopi was paralysed following a stroke in 1986, at the peak of his career. He was a recipient of several regional, national and international awards. He also wrote a book on cinema, ''Abhinayam Anubhvam,'' for which he got the National Award for the 'best book' on cinema. His other films Ormakkayi, Yavanika, Panchavadippalam, Aadaminte vaariyell, Peruvazhiyambalam, Kallan Pavitran, Sandhya mayangum neram, Kaattaththe kilikkooodu, and Chidambaram. He was hospitalized during the shoot of his last movie ''De Ingottu Onnu Nokkiye,'' directed by Balachandra Menon.

Vibgyor International Film Festival 2008 & Conference on Energy

ViBGYOR Film Collective is organizing a National energy Conference at Thiruvananthapuram, on January 24th ,2008 at Bank Employees Assocition Auditorium,Thiruvananthapuram. The conference is organised as a prelude to the Vibgyor International Film Festival 2008 with the focus on energy. The theme of the conference would be “Production, Distribution & Consumption of Energy- Policies, Problems & Alternatives “. Magsasay Award winner Sandeep Pandey* will inaugurate the conference. The conference is very relevant “at a time when struggles against nuclear power plants, large dams and super thermal plants are becoming more and more common in the developing world “ and “the problems related to energy is becoming more and more grave. An understanding of the implications of choice of any form of energy is a political choice which has to be implemented with concern and understanding of its impact on communities, environment as well as future generations”.The seminar is being organized in association with KSMTF, Chilla, HRLN, Chetana Media Institute, NOTTAM Traveling Festival, Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA), Centre for Social Education (CenSE), Visual Search, Moving Republic, SICHREM, The Other Media Communications, INSAF, Sangama, Abhivyakti, Visthar, Environment Support Group (ESG), NESA, National Adivasi Andolan, Focus on Global South, Vikas Adyayan Kendra (VAK), Orissa Development Action Forum (ODAF), Drishti and People's Watch

……………………………………………………………………………………………… *Sandeep Pandey is a senior social activist from India and co-founder of Asha for Education that focuses on strengthening democracy at the grassroots. For his years of dedicated service and leadership he was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2002, often considered the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize. He was also selected in the 'Emergent Leadership' Category.

FIPRESCI's "Best Foreign Language Film of 2007" to Croatian "Armin"

FIPRESCI informs

FIPRESCI's "Best Foreign Language Film of 2007" to Croatian "Armin"

From almost all national submissions to the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film, a jury of FIPRESCI selected — at the Palm Springs International Film Festival (USA, January 3-14, 2008) — its first special award of the year, the "Best Foreign Language Film of 2007": "Armin" by Ognjen Svilicic (Croatia 2007)

The jury presented also prizes for best actor and actress. Best Actress: ex equo Anamaria Marinca and Laura Vasiliu in "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" (4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile, Cristian Mungiu, Romania 2007). Best Actor: Song Kang-ho in "Secret Sunshine" (Milyang, Chang-dong Lee, Korea 2007).

Jury members were: Ronald Bergan, UK; Isabelle Danel, France; and Adam Nayman, Canada.

Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) , 2008

The sixth edition of the Pune International Film Festival will open at Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch , Pune with conferring of Lifetime Achievement awards on veteran actors Sharmila Tagore and Shammi Kapoor on January 10."Teeth of Love" from China directed by Zhuang Yuxin would be the inaugural film of the festival, festival Director Dr Jabbar Patel said. "Teeth of Love " tells the story of two decades of social flux in China through the experiences of a woman named Kwan Yong. The festival will show case around 170 films from 40 countries. Other highlights of this edition of PIFF will be the screening of seven comedy films from Europe , the 'Indian panorama' section with 15 films from Indian languages, and six "Best of Mainstream Hindi Cinema" of 2007, Dr. Patel said. The venues are E-Square, Inox, Ganesh Kala Kreeda Rangmanch and National Film Archives of India (NFAI). Besides cash awards given by the state government, 'Whistling Woods International,' established by noted film director Subhash Ghai, has announced four cash awards for winners in the students' film competition section. The best student's film will get $ 2000 while three cash awards of $ 1000 each will be given for best director, best screen play and best animation film. The Maharashtra Government has instituted 'Prabhat award' with Rs 10 lakh cash to the best international film shown in PIFF. The Prabhat award for best international director and the ’ Sant Tukaram ‘ , best international Marathi film awards have also been instituted by the state government with cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Government of Maharashtra, Pune Municipal Corporation, National Film Development Corporation, NFAI, Maxmueller Bhavan, Alliance Francaise, Film and Television Institute of India and Whistling Woods International will be actively associating within the 8-day event. The committee is headed by city MP Suresh Kalmadi followed by noted film director Jabbar Patel as Festival Director, Sabina Sanghvi as vice-chairperson and advisory board comprising Yash Chopra, Subhash Ghai, Hema Malini, Manmohan Shetty, Sham Shroff, Nitin Manmohan and Milton Shefter (US).

KARIMNAGAR SHORT AND DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL RESHEDULED

Varala Anand, Festival Director informs that the 2nd National Short and Documentary Film Festival to be held at Karimnagar is postponed to February 13-17, 2008.The Karimnagar film society expresses sorry for the inconvenience caused by change in the schedule and request the film makers, who already send their films to the festival to bear with them. The last date for submitting the films for the festival is extended to February 1, 2008. for any clarifications please contact :

Varala Anand
Festival Director & President
Karimnagar Film Society
Filmbhavan
collectorate Road
Karimnagar -505001

Ghumayee from Jammu-a parable that questioed ritualistic relationship

“Ghumayee “ a drama from Jammu enriched the national theatre festival concluded here the other day. It also proved beyond doubt that language is not a barrier for appreciating theatre works . Kashmir is far away from Kerala , but the love of theatre shortened the distance of these two cultures at the National Drama festival held in Thiruvananthapuram.


Theatre groups from other part of the country were here to present plays already popular in their languages.The Natrang group presented its celebrated play Ghumayee directed by Balwant Thakur in the National theatre festival .''These are things, these are initiatives which integrate us and make us feel that we belong to a big country called India. We are from Jammu and Kashmir and performing in Kerala. It gives us a different kind of feel,'' said Balwant Thakur.
Ghumayee is the story of a newly wedded couple on their way to bride groom’s house for a ceremony, realises the strength of human relationships. The story conveys the value of human relationship of marriage beyond mere rituals. Balwant used music as a weapon and folklore as a shield to conquer the hearts of theatre lovers. The play is in Dogri but the music is universal and is in fact, the language of narration in the play. Not surprisingly, everyone seems to appreciate the message the play brings.
Posted by meerasahib